Effect of transparency fluctuations on the accuracy of lidar correlation measurements of statistically unhomogeneous atmosphere

A theoretical study is presented for the effect of atmospheric transparency time fluctuations on the accuracy of lidar correlation measurements. A mathematical model is developed which describes the real statistical inhomogeneity of the atmosphere, that is, the average altitude profiles of the aerosol scattering coefficient and the wind velocity. Analytical expressions suitable for practical applications are derived. These expressions describe the dependence of the error in measurements of the wind velocity on the sounding trace slope to the earth's surface and on their length, on the measuring base, on the special correlation radius of the aerosol scattering coefficient, on the meteorological visibility, on the altitude gradient of the aerosol scattering, on the contrastivity of the aerosol inhomogeneities, and on the wavelength of the sounding laser radiation. It is found that for vertical sounding, the transparency fluctuation only slightly restricts the lidar possibilities and the error does not exceed 2%.